Absurdity: Catholic church blames gay community

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, read out a statement after a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva.

He said: "Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 per cent belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."

Tomasi added that it would be "more correct" to refer to ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males, than paedophilia.

The statement also attacked other religions, with Tomasi saying that most US churches embroiled in abuse scandals were Protestant, adding that the problem was also common in Jewish communities.

Mr. Tomasi, the men were catholic priests and that is the issue. Trying to point the finger in other directions does not change this fact.

Let us also remember the catholic church doesn’t allow female priests, it’s an “all male club”.

Since the catholic church seems to be confused let clarify some words:

Ephebophilia, is an attraction to post-pubescents, usually around the age of 18-20, which is what the term 'ephebe' meant in the original Athenian Greek (ephebic service was the obligatory two-year military training as citizen soldiers, undergone by all free-born Athenian men when they had reached the age of 18). Note, in most cases, this is not illegal since we are talking about individuals above the legal age of consent!

Hebephilia is an attraction to those undergoing puberty.

Pedophilia is an attraction to pre-pubescent children.

Mr. Tomasi please note these terms are not reserved for homosexuals. They apply regardless of sexuality or gender.

Mr. Tomasi’s statement also completely ignores the fact that many of the victims of catholic child abuse crimes were female – especially in Ireland.

Once again the church tries to downplay its responsibility.

Of course they will claim they are acting responsibly by their decision to disallow gay clergy. How does that protect the women who were abused?

How many members of the LGBTQIA community will now suffer harm at the hands of “devout catholics” (or others simply looking for an excuse to justify their bigotry/homophobia)?

Of course we are not surprised at these words from the catholic church, after all the pope was a Nazi.

It would appear the catholic church is trying to reinvigorate the witch hunts, only this time it’s gays!

Finally let’s look at the fact the catholic church has paid out tons of money because of this issue. In other words, the catholic church is guilty. To try and minimize that guilt by placing blame on others is nothing more then a insulting “slight-of-hand magicians trick”.

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PIttsburgh exhibit chronicles Nazi abuse of gays

"Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945" is a traveling project of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The formal opening will be Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in the center's Levinson Hall, with a keynote speech by the exhibit's curator, Ted Phillips.

"This exhibit is unprecedented," said Edie Naveh, director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, which is co-sponsoring the show. "There's never been anything else like it, certainly not in this country."

Using reproduced photos, papers, police reports, first-person accounts, artwork and a connecting historical narrative, the exhibit traces the roots and progression of Hitler's anti-homosexual campaign.

By the end of the war, more than 100,000 men had been arrested. Some 50,000 served prison terms, and an unknown number were sent to mental hospitals. Others, maybe hundreds, were castrated. Somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 were sent to concentration camps, where many died from starvation, disease, exhaustion and beatings and murder.

The Nazis also targeted homosexuals within the military, forcing them to serve and then using them as cannon fodder on suicide missions.

The discrimination outlasted the war by at least a half century. Men, and some women, who had been prosecuted and punished for their presumed homosexuality were not permitted to receive reparations, unlike other persecuted groups.

For a full list of related programs, visit holocaustcenterpgh.net. To schedule a tour, call the center at 412-421-1500. More information also is available at ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/hsx.